Prescribing Mental Health Medication: The Practitioner's Guide

Prescribing Mental Health Medicationis a text for practitioners who treat mental disorders with medication. It is theunique text to explain the entire process of medication assessment, management and follow up for general medical practitioners, mental health practitioners, students, residents, prescribing nurses and others who are perfecting this skill. Already used by providers and training institutions throughout the world, the newly revised second edition is completely updated and focuses on the following key issues: How to determine if medication is needed How to start and stop medication How to dose When to change medication Dealing with "difficult" medication patients Specific mental health symptoms and appropriate medication Special populations including: pregnancy substance abusers children and adolescents the elderly Management of medication side effects Practical issues such as: monitoring medication with blood levels managing the misuse of medication appropriate prescription of generic preparations safely avoiding areas of medication risk Internet prescription, telemedicine and electronic medical records Organizing a prescriptive office and record-keeping. Completely updated, this text includes information on all psychotropic medications in use in the United States and the United Kingdom. It incorporates clinical tips, sample dialogues for talking about medications to patients, and information specifically relevant for primary care settings.